When Darkness Calls
by Pinkie Dash Pony
Summary: When Mario finds himself lost in a mysterious galaxy, he joins forces with Link, Kirby and Luke Skywalker. Thier goal: Find a way home. However, enemies don't easily forget thier humiliators, and one mysterious villian is determined to destroy them all.
1. Heroes in an Unknown World

**Pt #1: Sauria's Secret**

**Heroes in an Unknown World**

A short man frowned, as he wandered through the large city. Hover cars zoomed all around him, and people walked all around him. Literally, _all_ _around_ him. On each story, a long sidewalk extended from one building to another, creating several different walkways. Thus, people were both above the man and beneath him.

_How strange,_ the man thought, before straightening his red hat and placing his hands into the pockets of his blue overalls. _What a bizarre place. What kind of people live here, and… how in the world did I end up here?_

Suddenly, a cry reached his ears, and he turned to see a large hare running from a bunch of robots. The hare ran instead of hopping, and was dressed in a shirt, and in pants. He was also wearing glasses. Pausing only for a second to reflect on the strange scene, the man grabbed onto a flower and pulled it out of his pocket. He stuffed it in his mouth, and his red clothes instantly changed to white. Then he charged at the robots.

A strange red beam flew out of their arms, and the man threw himself to the ground, barely avoiding one that was aimed at his head. _Mamma Mia! _He muttered, before turning and shoving out his hand. A large fireball flew from it and hit one of the robots, causing it to go up in flame. Instantly, all of the guns were pointed at him. _Time to die, _he thought to himself.

Suddenly, a Star Fox dropped down from one of the roofs, firing a blaster. Before he had even touched the ground, all of the robots had been destroyed. Then he turned to the man, who was actually smaller than this Star Fox, and said, "Who are you, and what are you doing on Corneria?"

The man looked the Star Fox up and down, studying him. He was perhaps five foot tall, and had a magnifying glass type thing over his eye. He wore a white dress shirt with a vest above it, and long brown pants. _This world is so weird!_ The man thought to himself. Then he said, "I'm Mario, from The Mushroom Kingdom."

"Never heard of it," the Star Fox replied, "but that really doesn't surprise me much. I'm Star Fox, and I suppose I owe you some thanks. You see, you just saved a good friend of mine by the name of Peppy. I don't know what we would do without him. Come, meet the others…"

"Others?" Mario asked with a look of confusion. "You said 'we' earlier, so I'm just wondering. Who are these others?"

"Well, I'm part of a mercenary group," Star Fox replied, before quickly adding, "though that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. They're out taking their vacations at the moment, as me and Peppy were doing here. I'm not going to go into who the other people are I'm talking about; I'll have them do that when we get there. You're not the first strange new presence here." So, curious, Mario followed Star Fox down the streets of Corneria.

It took about ten minutes, Star Fox having hailed a taxi, to reach the small building in the outskirts of town. Before opening the door, he turned to Mario and said, "Do _**you**_ have any idea where you are?"

"No," Mario replied. "The only things here I've ever seen before are those beams, and I've never seen them fired from whatever those were."

"Robots," Star Fox replied, "and you'll be seeing a lot of those before you return home. I just want to make sure you understand about this world before you talk to the others. I've already explained it all to them, and don't want to waste their time doing it again."

So for the next twenty minutes, Star Fox filled Mario in on what laser guns, spaceships, stunners, and all of the other strange things of this new world were. When he was finally finished, Star Fox and Mario turned their attention once again to the door. Leaning down, Star Fox wiped at an old scanner which appeared to be broken. It instantly glowed for a second, examining Star Fox's hand, before the door slipped open. "Come," Star Fox said, walking in.

Mario stepped into the room warily, not at all sure what to expect. If these people seemed strange to Star Fox, whom Mario considered strange, how much more would these people seem strange to him?

Three people…well, technically only two of them were human, sat around a table. One was dressed in a green tunic with a strange hat. The other one was dressed in a strange white shirt and a brown belt. At his side hung what looked to Mario like some kind of strange device. Its purpose, however, he couldn't even figure out. The other "person" looked to Mario like a pink ball about half his size, with red shoes and a face with a huge mouth.

"Mario," Star Fox said, "I wish to introduce you to Link," motioning to the man in the green tunic, "Luke Skywalker," the other human, "and Kirby," the strange ball. "They all ended up here and brought attention to themselves with their strange actions, same as you did. As of yet, nobody can explain why they ended up here."

"I can't remember either," Mario admitted. Then, after thinking hard for a couple of seconds, he said, "I must have fallen through a green tube."

"That is the weirdest one yet!" Star Fox said, putting his hand to his head. "Kirby said he probably rode a star, Link said it was a probably mess-up in Nayru's Wind, whatever that means, and Luke said it was probably some unseeable force he knows how to control. Now you say you came through _a __**green tube**_!"

Link stood to his feet, his hand on his bow. "We're wasting time!" he said, his frustration showing. "Ganondorf has returned, and I can't waste time sitting here! I need to get back to Hyrule!"

"I bet Meta-Knight has attacked Green Greens while I was here," Kirby said worryingly. "I need to find a star and get back!"

"Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach again," Mario said, his voice adding to those of the other complainers. "I need to get her out of his hands before it is too late. Disappearing will not be a good thing at the moment!"

"Patience," Luke said, standing to his feet. "Arguing won't get us anywhere…"

"You're one to talk," Link said, turning to Luke with a frown. "You're the only one who doesn't have a planet to protect!"

"I have an entire galaxy to protect," Luke replied, and all eyes instantly turned to him, "and I want to get back as much as you guys do. If I don't return soon, who knows what could happen… The fact is, though, none of us will achieve anything by arguing. We need to come up with some kind of plan. We need to know why we are here."

"Yeah," Link replied, "but unless something changes, sitting around waiting will not help us! I think we should go somewhere."

"Right," Kirby said, relaxing again. "I just don't want to sit here and waste my time. We've been here two months now…"

"Two months!!!" Mario exclaimed, his eyes widening. "I can't be here two months!"

"That's exactly what I said," Link said, turning to Mario and looking him up and down. "I hate to think about what must be happening in Hyrule right now. The last time a Link disappeared, though, it was for seven entire years. He was able to repair the world, but not completely."

"That didn't help," Mario replied. "The woman I love has been captured by an evil koopa, and I can't even rescue her because I'm stuck here!"

"Then it's agreed," Luke said, turning to Star Fox. "I'll take these people and see if we can uncover anything. I need to go because I am the only one who can fly a spaceship, and I don't think any of the others will stay behind with you."

"With me?" Star Fox asked, taken aback for a second. "Why would any of you stay with me?"

"Because the reason we have all been called together has something to do with you. It must. Otherwise, why would we be in your dimension?" Luke replied.

"If you believe that," Star Fox asked, "why have you decided I am staying here?"

"Somebody has to," Luke replied, "and it would probably be better you than me. I don't know this galaxy well enough to be able to explain anything to anybody. Nobody else is going to stay."

"Ok," Star Fox said, before looking at them again. "Are you expecting anybody else?"

"I don't know," Luke replied.

_Obviously, _Mario thought to himself,_ these others think of Luke as the leader. Otherwise, why aren't they talking to Star Fox as well?_

"I expected to be alone, then Link arrived five days later. He expected one more, three because that is the same number as people of the triforce…or something like that. Then Kirby came about three days later and insisted there would be one more, because of the fact that there were four Kirbys. Now, after sitting around for about two months, Mario arrives. I have no idea what to expect."

"Very well," Star Fox said. "I'll wait, but if nothing happens in the next two weeks, I'm going out after you."

"Agreed," Luke said, before turning to the other three people. "Mario, Link, Kirby, come on. It's time to figure out what our purpose here is."


	2. The Master of Darkness

**The Master of Darkness**

Dark clouds of fog billowed across the fiery landscape. Lightning flashed through it, and a chill ran through the land. Slowly, it began to fade, and a tall, black man pushed his way out of the fog. A look of frustration was on his thin face, and his red hair was wet with sweat.

Pausing to glance around, he frowned. He hadn't been captured; that was definite. This land of lava could not be The Sacred Realm. Link hadn't even been there to defeat him! _Where am I?_ He demanded angrily at the sky. _What is this place?_

He'd been so close…with Link's disappearance, taking Hyrule would have been all too easy. His army had begun its march when the stupid fog had made it absolutely impossible to see. Wherever he was now, he couldn't figure it out. As the fog faded away, he glanced around quickly and breathed in to help him think.

Suddenly, the sound of a giant roar caused the man to turn around. A giant beast stood there. It was dark green and about twenty times the man's height. It let loose a blast of fire, but the man merely held up his hand and blocked the fire in mid-air. Then he pushed his hand out, sending a blast of power into the beast that sent it flying backwards. Then he turned and continued onwards. Whatever this place was, it certainly had weird creatures.

The man paused in confusion as the strangest creature he had ever seen came walking over the hill in front of him. Clenching his hand, he powered it up for a blast, but as the metallic creature came closer, he hesitated. He looked closely at it and frowned. It almost looked like a person wearing armor, but he had never seen armor such as this before.

"Who are you?" The man demanded, not in the least bit nervous. If this person…if that is what it was, turned out to be hostile, he wouldn't be alive long enough to do anything dangerous. He would see to it.

"Samus," the helmet said, before hitting a button on the suit, causing the helmet to sink into it. The woman who stood before him was beautiful, with a perfectly smooth face and long blond hair. However, she wasn't any race the man had seen before.

"Where exactly am I?" the man asked seriously.

"Where?" Samus asked, as if surprised by the question. "How could you possibly not know what this place is? Everyone does, and everyone avoids it."

"Where am I?" The man asked in a more threatening voice.

"Calm down," Samus said. "You're on the planet Xebes. The land of the dark monsters…" she said the last part as though trying to make him remember. "What are you doing here, and who are you?"

"I answer to no one," He replied, glancing around. He kept his surprise completely hidden. How in the world had he ended up on another planet? What kind of fog had that been, and what had happened to his army? Most importantly, however, was the question of how to get back… "What are you doing here?" he asked, eyeing her and evaluating. "What is the armor for?"

"I'm a bounty hunter," Samus replied, "and at the moment, I'm looking for the last of the Metroids. My ship said it was here."

"You have a ship that can sail the lava?" the man asked, keeping his voice calm, yet becoming more and more confused. How could a ship tell you anything?

"No," Samus replied, as though it was a stupid question the man had asked just to annoy her. "My spaceship told me."

_Spaceship…_ The word hit the man and took his breath away. A ship that could travel through the stars… _The land of the dark monsters_… Looking down at his triforce, an evil sneer crossed Ganondorf's face. He had just hit the jackpot.

Mario, Luke, Link and Kirby clambered into one of Star Fox's ships, and Luke Skywalker pressed down on a lever. Instantly, the ship took off into the air. For Luke and Kirby, blasting off into outer space wasn't anything new. For Mario… well… he'd heard of it many times, but he had never experienced it. Link was just about blown away, stumbling about and trying to hold onto something. When he had finally gotten ahold of a seat, he pushed himself down into it and buckled up.

_What have I been thrust into?_ He asked himself with a frown. The fact that every Link before him had been just as thrust didn't make it any easier to accept. The Hero of Time had even been thrown into the future. _They never experienced anything this weird, though,_ Link protested to himself as if to justify his frustration.

"Link!" Mario called from the window, his voice full of excitement. "Come look; it's beautiful!"

Grumbling, Link stood to his feet, and found to his surprise the ground was no longer shaking. Frowning, still in a rather bad mood, he made his way over to the midget. Then his eyes glanced outside, and his breath was taken away. Instantaneously, any anger Link had been feeling dissolved away. Every bit of his being was filled with wonder, absolute wonder. Nothing Link had ever imagined had prepared him for such an awe-inspiring sight. He saw worlds surrounding him…stars…moons. The sight took Link's breath away. "I never thought anything could be so beautiful," he whispered to himself. Then he noticed that neither Luke nor Kirby had come over to the window, and called, "Why aren't you looking at it? It really is very beautiful."

"I've already seen it," Kirby replied. "It's the same every time." Luke, however, didn't respond. He was just sitting, silent, with his eyes closed as though he were thinking very deeply. After giving Luke a strange look, Link turned back to the window.

"I never imagined anything could be so beautiful either," Mario replied. "I've heard about it, but I never dreamed I would be up here seeing it myself."

"I've never even heard of it," Link replied. "Where I come from, we could never even imagine something like this. We still use bows and arrows. Star Fox said those went out of use thousands of years ago…"

Mario stared out the window and then turned to Link, remembering the teenager's statement back on Corneria. "Two months?" Mario asked, his voice filled with apprehension, as though he didn't want his question confirmed. "You've really been away from home for two months?"

"I have," Link replied, lowering his head from the window. Even its beauty wasn't enough to save Link from depression. "I don't know if I can get back, or if Hyrule even exists anymore. If I go home, I know I will not like what I find."

"Are you talking about, Ganondorf, you called him," Mario asked, his hand on his chin, thinking. "Who exactly is he?"

"The master of all evil," Link replied simply. Then he pulled off one of his brown gloves and held his hand out for Mario to examine it. There was a group of three triangles that touched each other at the bottom corners. One of the triangles almost seemed to be glowing. "This is the triforce, a gift from the goddesses who created our world. About a thousand years ago…probably thousands by now… Ganondorf tried to steal it and it broke into three pieces.

"One of those is mine, and gives me extra courage. Another one belongs to Ganondorf, and gives him the power to control anything and everything evil. Ever since he got his hands on it, me and Zelda have barely been able to defeat him. Now that I'm gone…" He trailed off, but the look in his eyes showed what he didn't want to say.

Mario gulped and said, "I think out of all of us, you're world is the one in the most danger. Kirby thinks trouble might come because he is gone, and Luke, well, he seems to trust that everything will turn out alright. I may be gone from my world, but my brother is still there. Your world has to face all of the terrors of evil, without having the power to stop it."

"That is what scares me," Link replied. Hopelessly, he said, "What can I do? What can any of us do?"

"Pl…" Mario began, planning on saying _Place your hope in Princess Zelda._ However, he never had a chance, because he was interrupted by a strange blaring noise which echoed throughout the entire ship.

"What in the world is that?" Link demanded, glancing around. Then his eyes locked onto the control panel Luke was sitting in front of. The screen was flashing red. "What does that mean?" he asked apprehensively. Something told him it wasn't good.

Luke turned towards Link, and it was easy to see Luke was trying very hard to remain calm. "It means," he replied, "somebody is attacking us."


	3. The First Casualties

**The First Casualties**

Star Fox frowned, pacing back and forth in front of the abandoned warehouse. It was absolutely, indiscernibly frustrating. He hated sitting around with nothing to do, especially now, when he knew something very spectacular was going on around him. Several people from different dimensions had fallen into his life, and all of them seemed to be great heroes and warriors.

Originally, he had thought the heroes would wait for all of them to arrive before they did anything. Now they were all gone, and he had been left behind. For some reason, he was certain no more people would be coming, and yet he hadn't felt like protesting. He was at a loss to figure out why.

_I need to be here for some reason._ The fact was lodged in Star Fox's brain, and try as he might, he couldn't dislodge it. Suddenly, he was disturbed from his thoughts by the ringing of his CT (communication thing). Hitting a button on it, his girlfriend's head appeared. "Crystal!" Star Fox exclaimed in surprise. "Is everything all right?"

"No," Crystal replied, and her voice sounded urgent. "Come quickly to Sauria! I've found something you need to look at!" Then her face turned, and she gave a cry of terror. The CT then went to static.

"Crystal!" Star Fox cried in fear, shaking his CT. Then, when that didn't help, he placed it back into his pants' pocket and took off towards the spaceport. He had to do something; sitting around wasn't an alternative. Somehow he knew that whatever Crystal had found was very, very crucial to his mission, whatever that was. Plus, it sounded as though she needed him.

Star Fox quickly raced through the town, keeping his eye out for anything out of the ordinary. He'd check one more time… He paused in surprise, stopping as he began to round a corner, and then quickly slipped behind it again. A strange monster stood in the middle of the street, giant and dangerous, glancing around angrily swinging its claws and sending cars flying. _What in the world?!?!_ Star Fox exclaimed in his brain. _Where did this thing come from?_

It was huge, at least sixty foot tall, probably bigger. It was black, completely black, except for his tiny eyes which glowed yellow. There was a giant hole through its chest, shaped like a heart. Its body wavered slightly, as though it was not truly there, and its feet didn't seem to have any true form. Its hands were large and black, claws that could probably slice through a skyscraper with ease. Small wings were on its back, much too small to give the monster the ability to fight, but that did not fail to add to his ominous presence.

Before Star Fox could formulate a plan as to how to dispose of this monstrosity, he heard the noise of thousands of small footsteps behind him, and his sixth sense told him that he didn't want these small beings to see him. Quickly, he pulled open a sewer covering and slipped in, closing it behind him. Just as he closed it again, he heard the footsteps coming around the corner into the area where he had stood merely seconds before.

Star Fox's eyes were widened in nervousness and fear. First Crystal, and now Corneria. Something powerful was out there, and he had to figure out what it was. Suddenly, the sound of bullets was fired, and Star Fox winced. How many innocent civilians had just died? It took all of Star Fox's strength not to burst out and fight. The only thing holding him back was the knowledge that Luke and the others would need him. They'd need to know what he found out.

Breathing in, Star Fox accepted the inevitable. At the moment, he could do nothing to save the city world, or even Peppy, wherever he was at the moment. Right now, Star Fox's path was leading him to Sauria. With one last glance at the roof above him, and a sigh, Star Fox took off into the sewers. As he ran, he pulled out his CT and began to hit the buttons to call the heroes' spaceship.

For a little while, as Star Fox ran, the only sound he could he hear was the tramping of his own feet on the ground…th-thump…th-thump…th-thump. The noise pattern began to fill his mind, and the pumping of his heart began to match that of his feet. Then, he heard the sound of things approaching from in front of him, and he instantly stopped. Something was coming! Behind him, he could hear the sounds of the thousands of footsteps again.

Star Fox placed his hand on his blaster, and breathed in. Whatever these invaders were, they weren't going to stand between him and his mission. Whoever whatever these things' leader was, he had bit off more than he could chew when he dared to attack Corneria and threaten the Star Fox Team. Around the corner came a large group of small black monsters, oozing towards him. All he could see were their eyes, frightening and yellow.

Star Fox raised his gun and began to fire, blasting down one after another. However, they just kept on coming, and the ones being shot didn't appear to be dying! _They're after me!_ Star Fox realized with a start as they approached. _They're hunting me, personally! _That could only mean one thing; he was not going to be getting out of there alive.

"What do we do now?" Mario asked, glancing around nervously. "Where are they attacking from?"

Luke stood to his feet and pulled out his strange device. Hitting a small button on it, a strange green light rose out of the top. Kirby, Link, and Mario all jumped back in surprise. None of them had had any idea what Luke's device was. Kirby then looked at it closely and said, "It looks like one of the weapons from where I came from…"

A blast suddenly caused the ship to shake, throwing the four companions to the ground. Instantly, they clambered to their feet and grabbed onto the walls to keep themselves from falling. The door to the outside of the ship began to creep slowly open. At the same time, a little device on the desk rang.

Star Fox's face appeared, and Link, Mario and Kirby instantly turned towards it. A laser blast suddenly shot through part of the door, and straight at Mario's head. Moving at lightning speed, Luke leapt in front of Mario, and swung his weapon. The laser beam collided with the light, bounced off, and flew back through the door, killing the person who had fired it.

"Luke, are you there?" Star Fox asked nervously. "I have so horrible news. They're coming…I can't escape." The head bounced as Star Fox talked, and it was obvious he was running.

"I'm busy!" Luke said to his three companions, while blocking another four shots, and concentrating on trying to keep the door closed. "Link, you talk to him!"

Link quickly grabbed the device and said, "Star Fox, Luke is busy fighting a bunch of robots that are breaking into our ship." As he talked, Kirby pulled out a sword and attempted to swing through the opening door at the robots. Mario began to let loose fireballs from his hand. "Where are you…?"

"Link," Star Fox interrupted, breathing hard. "I have almost no strength left. I have no time to hear of your problems. Listen…listen…You have to head to Sauria, and get there as fast as you can…

"But I don't know…" Link protested.

"You have to find its secret quickly! I…" Star Fox suddenly let forth a cry, and the CT fell silent. Link stared at the CT in horror. Star Fox, apparently, was no more. They'd only known each other for two months, but… _I will not fail him, _Link vowed. "Luke," he said, turning to Luke. "What should we do?"

Luke, however, said nothing. In fact, Link doubted very much if the great warrior had even heard him. All of the man's attention appeared to be devoted to the battle. With a cry, Luke pushed a button to open the door and charged out into the area holding all of the robots. Then he hit another button, and the door sealed.

Mario quickly raced to the door, wide-eyed. "What's he doing?!?!" Link cried, standing to his feet.

"Hit the hyperspace button!" Kirby replied quickly. "He's giving us a chance to escape."

"We can't go now! If we do, then he will be shot into space!" Mario argued vehemently. "We can't just kill him!"

"That's what he wanted us to do," Kirby stated simply, emotionless.

"How do you know?" Mario challenged. "As far as we know, he didn't even hear Link!"

Link glanced back and forth between the two arguers.

"Even if he didn't, he's dead anyway," Kirby argued. "He was giving us a chance to escape! Hit the hyperspace button, otherwise we will all die!"

"You don't just blast people into outer space," Mario said angrily. "It isn't the way we heroes do things."

"You're crazy!" Kirby said, pushing past Mario and walking up to where Link stood. Then he reached down to hit a button. In response, Mario gave a cry and dove at him, knocking Kirby to the ground. A fight then ensued. Mario and Kirby began to roll around the floor, punching and kicking, biting and scratching. From Link's viewpoint, it looked likely that the two of them would kill each other.

Kirby quickly opened his mouth, and sucked Mario in. Then he spat the man out with enough force to throw him across the room and into a wall. Mario slammed into it and fell to the ground. Nodding his head, Kirby turned and raced towards the control panel. Mario held out his hand, and let loose a fireball!

Kirby didn't see it coming, but Link did, and tackled Kirby out of the way just in time. The fireball hit the control panel, which caused a burst of sparks and smoke to fill the cockpit. Four words were heard through the explosion and the smoke. "Hyperspace drive now engaged." Instantly Mario, Kirby and Link were hurled backwards against the walls with such force that they lost consciousness.


	4. Crash Landing

**Crash Landing!**

Mario frowned as pushed himself to his feet. Glancing around, he observed that as of yet, he was the only person conscious. Frowning, he turned and walked over to the window. _Where are we? _he thought to himself as he approached it. Slowly, not exactly sure what to do, Mario peered out of the window. "Mamma Mia!" He cried frantically, stumbling backwards. Then he turned and raced over to the fallen figures of Kirby and Link.

"Wake up," Mario cried nervously, shaking the bodies. "Get up! _Move!_" The figures just lay there, not responding. _Great, this is just great!_ Mario thought to himself with fear, swallowing nervously. Then he went over to the window and looking out again. A planet was nearby, he could see that, but he doubted it was Sauria. He couldn't place his finger on what it was, but the planet ahead seemed…ominous. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that between the planet and the ship was a large area of giant floating rocks!

"Think Mario, think," Mario said aloud, forcing himself to relax. "What are you going to do?" As he stood there contemplatively, not at all aware how he ought to proceed, a large rock smashed into the ship, hurling the unconscious bodies against a different wall. As Mario flew across the room, he somehow managed to snatch a chair, and lurched to a stop. The pain seared down Mario's arms, and he bit back a cry of pain. There would be time for that later, hopefully. Right now he had to get control of the steering mechanism.

Frowning, Mario leaned forward, straining against the ship's vibrations. Letting go of the seat he was holding with one hand, he reached forward and snatched onto the next. Repeating the process, the pain growing excruciatingly more each time, Mario slowly made his way towards the steering wheel. As rock after rock collided with the ship, the jerking grew more and more intense, hurling Kirby and Link against wall after wall after wall. At long last, when Mario began to believe he could endure the pain no longer, he managed to reach the front seat. He quickly sat down in it and strapped himself in. Then, pleased with his success, he turned to look at the controls, and thousands of buttons stared back at him.

_Ok, _Mario thought. _Now what?_ Peering out the front windshield to see what was coming at him, Mario's eyes widened in horror. A rock the size of a circular football field came flying toward him at what seemed to be a billion miles an hour. If it hit the spaceship, it would crush it like a bug! Panic filling him, Mario leaned down and began to hit random buttons, hoping that one of them would send the spaceship into reverse. Instead, fire shot out of the back of the spaceship and launch it forward even faster! Mario, suddenly finding himself being pushed backwards into the seat due to the pressure, screamed.

Only knowing of one other thing to do, Mario grabbed a hold of the joystick and yanked back. Instantly, the ship began to do loops, as the rock continued its ever onward approach towards him. Mario had become a bit shaken up and busy trying not to throw up. At the same time, he was screaming at the top of his lungs! The bodies of Link and Kirby were flying all over the place.

At long last, after nearly breaking off the joystick from all of the force with which he forced it to remain still, the spaceship finally stop spinning. However, it was pointed upwards, and continued in that direction. Mario was lying on his back with the controls above his head. Though he couldn't really reach the controls anymore, he was finally beginning to move out of the way of the giant rock. Alas, the spaceship wasn't going quite fast enough, and the rock made contact.

If Mario hadn't been jammed so far back into his seat that he couldn't be pushed any farther, he may have hit it hard enough to cause the story to end there. As it was, he simply felt an incredible pain jar through his entire body, crumpling him against the seat. The pain in his arms felt like nothing compared to this. When he finally found himself able to breathe again, he promised that he would never make another paper go through that process. He could sympathize with them perfectly now.

Glancing behind him, he breathed in a sigh of relief. Somehow, Link and Kirby had managed to survive the impact. Breathing in, he sent a prayer of praise to the light, thanking it for its protection. He was interrupted by the computer on the spaceship. "Oxygen tank punctured. Emergency Oxygen on, ten minutes remaining…nine minutes remaining…eight minutes remaining."

"That's not good!" Mario thought to himself frantically, and quickly turned the spaceship towards the planet. He would not be able to wait for Kirby or Link to wake up and help; he had to land now! Hitting what he now knew caused the spaceship to speed up, Mario directed the spaceship towards the planet. It took about five minutes, but they soared through the atmosphere and began their decent. By this time, the oxygen in the ship was critical, all the remained was the little bit that was still inside the cockpit. Even that was becoming hard to find.

As the ground grew closer, Mario began once more to hit random buttons. One of them had to slow down the spaceship! However, as luck would have it, these buttons turned the power off, and the spaceship dropped. Mario didn't even have time to scream, before it slammed into the ground.

"Mario!" A voice called through the darkness. "Come on, wake up! You have to be ok!" Straining, Mario forced his eyes opened and looked into Link's concerned face. The boy sighed and said, "It's good to have you back. I was afraid…well…you hadn't survived."

"Yeah," Kirby said, glancing over to them. "That would have been a real shame. I told him you'd be fine, but he wouldn't stop worrying." It was obvious, Kirby was still quite angry over the fight that had destroyed their hyper-drive and knocked them all unconscious. "Thanks to you, we're stranded here…wherever here is," Kirby said angrily. "This never would have happened if you'd just gone into hyper-drive like I'd told you to!"

"If you want me to apologize, you're going to be disappointed," Mario replied coldly. "You killed Luke! We wouldn't have been in this mess if you hadn't…"

"If Kirby hadn't done it, we'd all be dead," Link interrupted with such authority that Mario didn't even dare to argue. "I agree with you, Mario. It was cowardly, but it was also something Luke that definitely understood and accepted. He was holding back the robots so we that could escape." In other words, both of them had been in the wrong. Sacrificing a friend so that you could live, when it was required…made those who refused to do it and those who did do it, in the wrong. It was a very, very complicated problem.

Neither Mario nor Kirby said a word, silently staring at each other in hatred. Link shook his head, and frowned. "Look you two," he said. "From now on, I'll be in charge. We're going to have to work as a team in order to survive this, and even if you don't want to go home, I do. So stop fighting! We don't know how to live in this world, and if we make enemies of each other, we will _**never**_ get home. Understand?"

"Fine," Mario said his voice still angry. Hatred smoldering in his eyes, he reached his hand out to Kirby and said, "Truce?"

Taking it, Kirby glared deep into Mario's eyes, "Once this adventure is over, you're dead." It was then that Mario realized how beaten and bruised Link and Kirby were. That was most definitely his fault; his ignorance about how to fly a spaceship had caused it. Then again, it hadn't really been his fault that he didn't know how to fly. However, it had been he who shot the control panel.

"Now," Link said. "Let's go figure out where we are."

Ganondorf sat back in his new palace with a smile. He had had his soldiers, the heartless, construct it. The castle was large and black, with everlasting dark clouds above it, and lightening slashing out to make the place look like some kind of monster's dwelling. The walls were high and thick, and had anti-air guns all over them. If somebody wanted to come at his castle, they'd have to do it from the ground.

It was actually quite peaceful in this strange new world to have such a powerful army. There were actually times when all he needed to do was sit back and relax. It was strange though, doing nothing but sitting around. It was something that Ganondorf had never actually done before, and he wasn't at all sure how he felt about it. This is what he had been doing when a pound came to his door. "Ganondorf, sir!" A voice called, seriously and nervously.

Ganondorf motioned with his hand, and two big, fat heartless opened the large red door. Samus hurried in and then looked up at Ganondorf. For a moment, she paused, hesitantly. At Ganondorf's arrival on Xebes, he had conscripted Samus into his army, and after a month of working with him, she'd become his most trusted official. For her, nothing could have been worse of an insult. She hated working for such a monster, but at the same time, she didn't really have any choice in the matter. So she reported what she had come to report. "Terin and Farix say that they have found an old enemy of yours."

"An old enemy of mine?" Ganondorf asked, raising in eyebrow. "Here? How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, sir," Samus replied. "Perhaps he came the same way that you did."

"Where did they find this enemy, and who is he?" Ganondorf asked, both apprehensive and excited. _Whoever this old enemy may be, it will be quite nice to have him smashed into the ground by my ultimate power,_ Ganondorf thought with a wicked grin.

"Well, some of the heartless captured a vixen by the name of Crystal, who was sending a message to some "star fox". So Terin and Farix saw to it that this "star fox", if that is really even his name, was disposed of, but before they could destroy him, he sent an emergency message to a Luke Skywalker, demanding to speak to him…"

"Get on with it!" Ganondorf demanded impatiently. "Who is my old enemy?"

"Luke was busy fighting some robots…"

"Doing what!" Ganondorf exclaimed, rising from his chair. "Who was attacking him? It most certainly wasn't my army!"

"Even Terin and Farix cannot figure that out," Samus admitted. "However, there is something more important for you to know about. When Luke couldn't answer the phone, he told his friend, Link, to…"

"_**Link?**_" Ganondorf exclaimed in frustration, his face contorting in rage and detestation. "Leave it to that pathetic green boy to always muddle up my plans! Can you tell me where he is?"

"Yes. He's on his way to a planet called Sauria," Samus replied. "That is where Star Fox told him to go. Terin and Farix have already located it and are requesting for you to send them aid. If help is to arrive before they do, it'll need to leave immediately."

"I'll go," Ganondorf declared, standing to his feet.

"Sir…!" Samus stammered in surprise. "You're the leader of the army; you can't endanger yourself like that!"

"I've done it countless times before," Ganondorf protested. "Besides, only I can handle Link."

"No offense, sir, but neither of you are from this time period. Bows and swords aren't much good in this galaxy. It will be easy to dispose of that man," Samus replied certainly. "I'll do it myself, if you'll allow it."

"He may have friends," Ganondorf replied, "and you never know what Link is truly capable of. But I trust you. If anyone besides me could possibly destroy Link, it would be you. Go, Samus, and complete the mission. Then come back as soon as possible. We need to discover who else wants Link dead."

It was hard, but Samus managed to hold back the shame that threatened to come onto her cheeks. Ganondorf, the master of evil, trusted her. "As you wish," Samus said, nodding her head, before she turned and walked out of the room.

Mario stood to his feet, and wiped the remaining pieces of mushroom out of his moustache. "Enough time has been wasted here," he said impatiently. "Come on." They had collected the food from the forest that they had crash-landed in the center of. Link had said the exact same thing five minutes earlier and had been pacing around ever since.

Knowing that Kirby wouldn't listen to Mario, Like walked over to him and politely said, "He's right, Kirby. Please finish up quickly, so that we can go."

Stretched in front of Kirby was such a huge platter of fruits and vegetables that it looked like it would take him hours to eat it all. With a smile, Kirby nodded, opened his mouth wide and placed the rest of his food within it! Then he closed down and swallowed, jumping into the air as he did so. As he landed on his feet, he said, "Which way should we go?" Link and Mario simply stared at him in shock and surprise.

"What?" Kirby asked, clueless at their bizarre behavior.

"That was a lot of food," Link replied simply.

"Wait," Mario said, pushing past Kirby and Link. He peered into the distance and muttered to himself, "I know this place. The Oonies." Turning towards Kirby and Link, he said, "Follow me!" Then he took off into the forest. Link and Kirby exchanged a look of confusion before racing after him.

It didn't really take any time at all for Kirby and Link to catch up to Mario. He wasn't a very fast runner, after all. However, he was too excited to explain where he was going. Then, suddenly, he came to a stop. In front of them was a giant tree, and a giant flashing sign was on the tree, above a little hole. On the flashing sign was written the words "secret entrance." Mario came to a stop and looked over at Link and Mario. "I have most definitely been here before, and I just might know where we could find a spaceship."


	5. Home Sweet Home

**5; Home Sweet Home**

Mario pointed with a finger towards a large green tube sticking out of the ground, and the other two stared at it in surprise. Both could clearly remember what he had said to Star Fox a couple of days before. _"I must have fallen through a green tube."_ "You actually travel through these things?" Link asked in surprise, and with a raised eyebrow. "This tube will take us into outer space?"

"I'm afraid not," Mario replied, shaking his head. "I don't think they have that much range. It was simply the only possible explanation that I could think of. All right; climb in!" Kirby and Link simply stared at him, Link apprehensively and Kirby rebelliously. "Fine," Mario said with a sigh, and a roll of his eyes."I'll go in first." He turned and stepped onto the tube. Then he quickly disappeared into it, like a rock being dropped into a lake.

"You next," Kirby said with a sarcastic smile, motioning towards the tube. Link opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it when a realization entered his head. If he was to be the leader, then he needed to start acting like Luke, calm and sacrificial at every turn. After all, there wasn't a better way to change Kirby into the hero that he ought to be than by acting as an example.

Nodding his head in acknowledgement to Kirby's statement, Link climbed onto the tube. So, as Link sunk down into the tube and a chill of fear ran through his body, his face registered nothing but calm. Kirby followed shortly. The moment they entered the tube, they came back out again, though they were no longer in the same place.

Whereas the last place had been a wild and beautiful forest, this new place was a dirty, stinky, rundown looking place. There were several other tubes around them, each one presumably leading to a different place. To one side of them ran the most disgusting water that Kirby or Link had ever seen, to the other side of them was a wall. In front and behind them were doors. It became obvious almost immediately that the horrible stench was coming from the water. Above them was a roof, and they were standing on cement.

Welcome," Mario said with a smile, "to Rougeport Sewer."

"Sewer!" Kirby burst out in anger. "You're supposed to be taking us to a spaceship, not to some stinky sewer!" Mario held up his hand for silence, but it was too late. The sounds of footsteps coming towards them could be heard in both directions. With a sigh, Mario held up one of his hands and created a fireball. Link and Kirby, realizing that whoever was approaching weren't Mario's friends, drew their swords.

A high-pitched, squeaky voice split-through the darkness, a voice that did not, in any way, instill fear in Link or Kirby. Mario, on the other hand, tensed. "Mario?" the voice said, and then his voice became filled with excitement. "Men, he's returned." At that moment, around thirty of the weirdest turtles that Link or Kirby had ever seen stepped into view. They were standing on their hind legs, and were between six or seven foot tall. Their shells varied in size and color; blue, red, black, yellow and even purple. The most bizarre thing about these turtles, though, was their sunglasses.

"Who are they?" Link whispered quietly, bewildered.

"Some of Bowser's minions," Mario replied simply. "He's the evil being I am supposed to be defeating." Then, frowning, he stepped forward and demanded. "Tell me where Princess Peach is!"

"We don't have her!" one of the Koopas said, glaring back at him. They all readied their claws.

"Don't be stupid. I know that Bowser kidnapped her!" Mario replied, stepping forward angrily.

"We didn't lay a claw on your filthy princess," the Koopa said indignantly. "We didn't have anything to do with her kidnapping."

Mario shook his head with a frown. "If you don't tell me where she is, you're going to regret it." He held out his hand, and it began to glow red with flame. Link and Kirby simply watched. Not knowing how Mario's world operated, Link didn't want to interrupt. Kirby simply couldn't have cared less what happened here. If they had to fight these guys, so be it. If they were innocent, well, let that go on Mario's conscience, not his.

"We had nothing to do with it," the Koopa said, "but if you want to fight, we'll gladly oblige you." With that, the Koopas charged.

With a snarl, Mario let loose a blast of fire, instantly disintegrating four of the Koopas. Link leapt forward beside Mario, swinging his blade. To everyone's surprise, it sliced right through the shells of the Koopas, and in one blow, two more had fallen. Kirby simply watched.

The Koopas fell upon Mario and Link, overwhelming them by pure numbers. Mario was thrown to the ground and pounded upon. Link had been forced against one of the walls, swinging and swinging. However, there were just too many Koopas attacking for him to actually do anything with the swings except block. Since Kirby hadn't done anything during the beginning of the fight, the Koopas had simply decided that he was not a fighter, and ignored him.

Deciding it was time, Kirby stepped forward and a vicious wind issued forth from his mouth. It lifted a yellow-shelled Koopa out of the air and sucked him inside. The other Koopas, oddly, didn't feel anything. As this happened, a look of haughtiness was in Kirby's eyes. _Time to save the two weaklings_, he thought. The plan had been to suck up the Koopa, and then throw him at the others, but the moment it entered his mouth, Kirby felt as if he were holding a heavy weight. "What in the world?" he asked himself with a frown.

Then, a smile crossed Kirby's lips, and he lifted himself into the air. He did this by simply breathing out. How this was possible without letting the Koopa out was a mystery that even Kirby did not know. Long ago, however, he had simply discovered that he could. Floating over the group of Koopas that surrounded Link, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Link watched in amazement as Kirby morphed into a large pink block. It slammed to the ground, which shook violently, throwing the Koopas who were not crushed across the room. Mario flew with them. Link, however, managed to snatch onto Kirby's rock.

As soon as the shaking stopped, Kirby became himself again and spit out the empty yellow shell. Link stared at it in amazement for a second, before quickly turning his attention back to the Koopas. The ones that hadn't been knocked out by the throw were lying upside-down on their backs. Watching them, it became apparent that they had no idea how to turn themselves over!

Mario stood up amongst the fallen Koopas. He was beaten, bruised and scratched all over, and for the moment, it felt painful even to stand. However, nothing had been broken, so he knew he'd recover shortly. Turning towards Kirby and Link, the guilt returned, as he remembered that they too had been badly bruised. Stepping up to them, he shot Kirby an angry glance. "Why didn't you help us?" he demanded.

"I did," Kirby replied, "when I decided it was time for me to."

"They nearly killed us!" Mario said angrily, "and you simply watched!"

"You're the one who provoked them," Kirby pointed out angrily. "You were asking for a beating, and so was Link when he got in the monsters' way. I only moved once I was certain that you'd learned your lesson."

"You didn't even try to save me," Mario replied angrily. "You went for Link, who was still able to fight. I was being crushed, and you simply let them do it!"

Kirby frowned and said, "You are shockingly stupid. Link was only involved because he had tried to help you. Of course, I'd try to save him first. You're the reason he needed to be saved at all!" His mind went to the strange occurrence with the yellow shell, but he chose not to ask about it. He didn't want to give Mario the satisfaction of having to teach something to him.

Mario sighed. _This is pointless!_ he thought with a frown. The bodies slowly faded away, and Mario turned once again to Link. "I don't know what to do," he said honestly. "I know I should continue with you, but at the same time I need to know what has happened to Princess Peach. I need to know why the Koopas wouldn't admit that they took her…"

"Here's a thought," Kirby said sarcastically. "Maybe it's because they didn't!"

"Shut up," Mario said coldly. "You know nothing about this world. Nobody but Bowser would be willing to go after Princess Peach, not when I'm her guard. I need to find out what is going on here!"

"We need to get out of here!" Kirby replied angrily. "There are certainly more enemies where those came from, and I don't want to be here when they do. We shouldn't even be on this planet! We're supposed to be heading for Sauria. The sooner we get there, and find out how to get home, the better! I wouldn't mind abandoning you to your doom, but unfortunately, you're the only person who knows how to get out of here!"

"Quiet," Link said, glancing between the two of them. "Mario, is Princess Peach's castle anywhere near here?"

"No," Mario said resignedly. "It isn't."

"Then here's what we'll do," Link said. "Mario, you need to take us to the spaceship. We'll figure out how to drive it, and let you go to the Princess's Castle. Once we find out what is so important about Sauria, we'll come back for you. Ok?" As he said this, he glanced at Kirby with a frown. It was obvious that Link wasn't asking Mario. After all, Mario's answer was quite obvious.

"Ok," Kirby replied coldly. "Better yet, let's not come back for him." Link shot Mario a triumphant look, and Mario couldn't help but smile. He was going to have the opportunity to rescue Princess Peach. Next to that, nothing mattered, not even Kirby's cold and selfish attitude. At the moment, not much would be able to dampen his spirit.

"This way," Mario said, motioning to the left with his hand. Then he took off at full speed. After all, as soon as he got these guys to where they needed to go, he could get back to what he was supposed to be doing. Once he was done with that, he would be able to travel with Link and Kirby in much less tension. He would no longer have to worry about Luigi or Princess Peach.

Mario led them through the sewers, his mind racing with excitement, avoiding any of the passageways which he knew belonged to the Koopas. The last thing that he wanted at the moment was another battle. Due to the many detours that came as a result, it took almost twenty minutes to arrive at their destination, an old, rundown, locked door.

"What is this?" Kirby asked with a frown. "We're deep underground, standing outside of an old door that looks like it was abandoned a long time ago! What would a spaceship be doing in a place like this?"

Ignoring Kirby, Mario quickly pulled out a small key unlocked the door. When he opened it, Kirby and Link did nothing but stare. The only thing in the room was definitely not a spaceship, but they had absolutely no idea what it was. Sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty room was a giant ovalish chamber made of a strange kind of glass. It sent a shiver down Link's spine, and his triforce tingled.

"What are we?" Link asked in apprehension. "There's something evil about this place."

Mario nodded his head. "There was once. This device will take you to the X-Naut's base. This was created so that they could come down to my planet and take over our world. They were destroyed by an evil demon queen that they accidentally unleashed, and then I had to stop." Mario replied, muttering the last bit under his breath.

"After the chaos ended, none of us has seen a single X-Naut. As far as we know, their base is deserted. However, I warn you to keep your eyes open. There's no telling what might be up there. Though I honestly doubt there will be anything, you never know. If there are any spaceships left, they'll be up there somewhere." Placing his hand on Link's arm, he said, "Be careful, my friend."

Link nodded, before turning to Kirby and saying, "Are you ready?" In response, Kirby stepped into the warp chamber. He couldn't wait to get away from Mario. Once Link stepped in, there was a flash of light. When it cleared, the two of them were gone, on their way to the moon and the next step of their adventure. Mario looked at the empty device, nodded his head, turned and walked out of the room. It was time to rescue Princess Peach.

The trip through the glass was instant and painless. One minute, Link and Kirby were stepping into the glass, the next they were stepping out again. However, there was no doubt that they were somewhere completely different. The sewers smells were gone, as were the rotten and rundown walls. Instead, the room around them was smooth and painted a brilliant silver. Although there was only two things in the room, it looked like something only a being of great wealth would be able to afford. The two objects were, of course, the warp machine and a map.

As Link turned and began to survey the map, Kirby impatiently pushed open the door and walked out into the hall. In front of him, stretching off as far as he could see on both sides, was a long passageway filled with doors. There had to be at least twenty that he could see, on each side. The next thing he became aware of was the sound of footsteps walking around.

"What in the world?" Kirby asked himself with a frown. Then he muttered, "Figures Mario would be wrong. We're in a powerful enemy base, and it's not deserted." Quickly, he slipped back into the room. Link still studying the map. "We have company," Kirby said matter-of-factly.

"I know," Link replied, causing Kirby to frown.

_How is that possible? _Kirby asked himself in bewilderment. _This room is soundproof! _"Well, what do we do now?" Kirby asked. "Do you have any idea? You are the one who said that you wanted to be the leader." He said the last part almost as an insult. "Lead."

"We need to…" Link said slowly, moving his finger along the map, tracing the path that they needed to take, "go left."

"Left?" Kirby sputtered in frustration, glancing at him with a mixture of sarcasm and annoyance. "That's your master plan for getting us out of here alive, go left!"

"Listen," Link said. "It's not like I've been here for hours. I simply mean that the easiest way to get to hanger is to go left. There's some kind of elevator over there, and we can use it to reach the top floor…"

_Elevator. _Kirby smiled the first smile he had since arriving in that land. No, an elevator was not necessary. "I have a better idea," he said with a smirk.

When Kirby and Link slipped out of the room, they were instantly taken by surprise. A strange creature about three foot tall was standing in front of the door. Hearing the sound of the door opening up behind him, he had twirled around to stare into the faces of Link and Kirby. It was completely covered in a strange white suit, with a red shirt that entirely covered their short body. It had no legs, but it did have feet, which were adorned with red shoes like Mario's. It wore white gloves as well. A strange hat rested on its head, and its ears were flat and pushed the edges of the hat out in strange directions. Glasses rested in front of its eyes, and a black X ran from the top of its shoulders to the opposite boot.

It took only a second for Link and Kirby to notice all of this, because in the next second he was gone, running down one of the tunnels to the left in pure terror. Link and Kirby quickly dashed after it, terrified that it would tell the others and make escape that much more difficult. As they grew closer to the elevator, they could hear more and more hustle and bustle, and reluctantly, the two of them were forced to slow. In front of them, not to far ahead, was a corner. According to the map, the elevator was on the other side.

"You saw a giant in green and a pink ball," a dark, deep voice said in bewilderment. "Where! Explain yourself, X12."

"They came out of the warping area, sir," the strange creature, obviously an X-Naut, stammered.

Upon hearing the voice, Kirby had grown pale. Nervously, apprehensively, he peered around the corner, and then slipped back to Link again, his face filled with fear. Turning to Link, he whispered in horror, "Meta-knight's here!"

**X12**


End file.
